Official Xbox 360 Thread V: Vs. Tommy Gunn

**Error** · 08 Aug 2007, 01:19 AM

Originally Posted by Ammadeau

wireless + charge and play = best of both worlds.

I have that and I'd still rather just have a wired.

**haohmaru** · 08 Aug 2007, 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by Error

I have that and I'd still rather just have a wired.

Same for me. I've always noticed the difference between wireless vs. wired.

**Dyne** · 08 Aug 2007, 09:47 AM

i can say right now, going from a wired dual shock to a 6axis is like night and day. not necessarily a bad thing but there is almost NO weight to the ps3 controller.

**soundwave** · 08 Aug 2007, 09:49 AM

FYI: Stranglehold Demo on Marketplace

**Bacon McShig** · 08 Aug 2007, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by The Gas

So even though the actual price of the Elite has gone down, the more important number - how much extra it is beyond the Premium - has gone up. LOL @ $100 for 120 GB.

It's not uncharacteristic of memory-based pricing trends, for instance 512MB MP3 players and memory cards have depreciated much faster than 2GB ones. Same concept. 20GB is pretty dated storagewise and will fill very quickly, the 120GB is more contemporary and accomodating of the various demos and videos XBLA offers.

**Rem** · 08 Aug 2007, 11:35 AM

the update is really fucking me up, it tells me to update but then it says it can't connect to live. When I do the connection test it works up until I get to live than it needs me to update and it can't connect again. What should I do?

**Nash** · 08 Aug 2007, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by soundwave

FYI: Stranglehold Demo on Marketplace

Oh shit!

**Cowdisease** · 08 Aug 2007, 04:55 PM

A fellow by the way of MRCUR has explained why the Xbox 360 gets the Red Ring of Death in the Xbox forums (check Page 9 of the thread).

What Heck said is laughable. He basically has no idea what he is talking about...

The problem was not the CPU. The heatsink was geniously designed for the small space with the use of a heatpipe. This has worked extremely well, which is evident in the design of the new GPU heatsink. MS realized that the GPU hatsink design was horrible, and relying on the DVD drive to move air across the entire heatsink was a ridiculous idea. That is why MS implemented the new heatpipe into the GPU heatsink which greatly helps quickly move a lot of heat away from the GPU die.

The main problem with the GPU design was the fact that almost no heat moved away from it (only the very very back part of the heatsink had any air moving over it because of the design) and the X-Clamp design as well. The X-Clamps that MS uses have a small piece of plastic on them which applies pressure directly under the GPU. The idea was to keep constant pressure on the GPU die (this design is also used with the CPU heatsink, but doesn't cause problems because of the heatsink design) which would keep it in even (yeah, that never happened) pressure with the heatsink above.

What ended up happening is the heat built up right on and under the GPU which caused the motherboard to begin warping from the pressure of the X-Clamp. This caused the GPU to "pop" off of the board, causing the infamous RoD. This happens within 2 years of use (normally), which explains the 3 year warranty. The epoxy fix was implemented as a quick and cheap (remember, MS wants to be saving money at this point, not spending more. Too bad they didn't fix this earlier...) fix. The epoxy helps keep the GPU (the CPU as well, but that is a non-issue as you can see) connected to the board, even if it warps.

The new GPU heatsink moves heat away from the GPU die into the airflow path of the CPU heatsink. (Before the new heatsink the CPU's heatsink was under-used. It's a good thing since MS was able to move the GPU heat in front of it.) Because of this, the board does not flex (and even if it does a small bit, the epoxy will keep the GPU down) which stops the RoD (yeah, finally).

The 65nm chips will only give MS an even better thermal margin to work with before the console gets the RoD. Some people ask me why MS is spending the money on the new heatsinks in the new "Falcon" systems; the simple answer is: they don't want to scr3w everything up again. Maybe down the road we will see the "Falcon" systems run quieter as MS updates the firmware that controls the fan speed. Hopefully with the increased thermal margins that come with the 65nm chips, this will allow MS to slow the fans down a bit. (They should really slow down the DVD drive, IMO.)

The thread also explains when the new and improved 360s hit the market and what you should be looking for to get one.